Head Nova's handsome, young features remained as neutral as ever, but there was no doubting the darkness in his eyes. To be blatantly smeared in front of the leaders of their 99 universes… No matter how level-headed a person normally was, they'd be pissed.
The worst part about it all was that Head Nova wouldn't put this potential possibility past his brother. To say that Elder Nova was a stain on the Nova family's name was an understatement… The sad reality of it all was that he was far more talented than Head Nova, yet never put his effort into what he should have.
This sort of analysis of Elder Nova's life would be shocking to many. This was an elder who humbled himself to acting as a doorman. Even Dyon would do a double take.
It had to be said that although he and Elder Nova were enemies, it was just that. Dyon may dislike Elder Nova for being a potential danger to him and who he cared for, but he didn't hate him. He didn't particularly have a reason to… Dyon wasn't so naïve as to believe that everyone should be his ally and that all people who weren't were terrible individuals. The world was rarely so black and white.
The truth was that anyone who knew how Elder Nova had lived that last few thousand years of his life would never assume this of his past…
In the end, Head Ceres and Master Ores didn't get the rise out of the Head Nova that they wanted.
"Thank you for your input. In my humble opinion, even when this third possibility is taken into account, the safest route to take is that of the second possibility. Meaning, we should assume that the enemy is not afraid of us, but is afraid of our employer.
"It is best for us all that my younger brother would make such a mistake, because at least then it won't affect the employer's plans of suppressing the soul path. Know that if you are correct, the Nova family will do everything in its power to bring our second prince to justice.
"However, should the second possibility be true, we have a true problem on our hands."
Head Nova calmly diffused the situation, causing the faces of his opposers to darken. It didn't take a genius to realize that Head Nova's words were akin to saying that their possibility hardly mattered, after all, at the end of it, Head Nova had still come to the correct conclusion.
It felt like Head Nova had clapped at their monkey dance, only to ignore it all and move on with important matters. This one moment reminded them all why the Nova family stood above them all. Although their 99 universes couldn't compare with their employer, in terms of raw power, they were comparable to a top 30 quadrant even without the help of the tower to cultivate their youth. Therefore, the Nova family's prowess couldn't be understated.
Seeing that everyone agreed with his analysis, Head Nova nodded and moved forward.
"For now, we have to be cautious. In preparation for this day, we maintained control over 48 of the 49 key towers, however, due to the fact we purposely allowed them to maintain rights as the key wielder, all of that is null and void.
"This may seem unfortunate on the surface, but it actually works out better for us this way. We can concentrate our attack on a single gate and toward a single tower."
Head Ceres and Master Ore could only watch as Head Nova once more took control of the meeting.
There was a total of six inhabited planet in Universe Cathedral. One for each of the five Sub-Peaks, and the last for Soul Rending Peak.
By extension of this fact, there were also 6 gate entrances, with the epistemic tower holding gate being found on Planet Cathedral, the home of Soul Rending Peak.
Originally, the plan of the 99 universes and their employer was to leave Universe Cathedral as bait. To the outside world, the 98th quadrant was incredibly weak, and Universe Cathedral was a testament to this.
To that end, the key wielder of the quadrant was left in the hands of the Peaks. However, in recognition that something like this might occur, the 99 universes controlled 48 of the 49 key towers – 8 from each of the 5 sub-peak gates, and 8 of the 9 key towers, not including the epistemic tower, of the Soul Rending Peak gate.
The reason owning 8 of 8 key towers didn't allow them control over the cultivation threshold was because the rules of the gate changed when there was an owner of the Epistemic Tower Key. The other gates became all but irrelevant in front of the key wielder.
Of course, this power was limited to those 6 gates only as they shared a universe with the main gate.
Thus, the goal of the 99 universes was simple. As long as they conquered the epistemic tower, the key wielder would lose their strength, and then they could finally gain an accurate understanding of just what they were facing.
"It's very possible that this key wielder plans to raise the cultivation barrier once we send our younger generation in. If that's the case, we could be setting up our youth to be massacred." Head Nova explained calmly.
Head Nova knew very well that this might be a trap, but he was ready.
"Here are some of my thoughts for how to deal with this…"
...
Dyon stared at the family heads as they seemed prepared to fight tooth and nail to stop him.
Truth be told, even Granny Celest was feeling conflicted. Their ancient blood reserves really were a lifeline that even she didn't know if she'd be willing to give up.
Of course, she knew that Dyon planned on leaving the deer blood alone and taking payment from the other families, but something about it still made her uncomfortable. Still, she was quite aware that this was because of her innate nature as a Celestial Deer. She was simply too giving… It was to the point where these family heads thought they could bully her grandson even in her presence.
Dyon's head slightly tilted as though he was watching something amusing.
"Under normal circumstances, your thoughts would be correct." Dyon said slowly, still smiling. "After all, you mighty dao formation experts have true domains. You must believe that if you go all out, you can cancel my ability to manipulate the laws of this space, no?"
The three heads frowned, but said nothing in response to Dyon's words. It was clear that he was correct, so what was the point in explaining more? They were just surprised that a mere essence gatherer knew so much about the dao formation realm. Something like this was very rare.
What they didn't know was that earlier in his cultivation days, Dyon sometimes spent days on end studying various cultivation techniques. This was because at one time, he had planned to create his own energy cultivation technique tailored specifically toward himself. In order to do this, he needed not only an understanding of where he was currently, but where he'd be in the future.
Obviously, it was arrogant beyond belief to assume that you'd become a dao formation expert. After all, the numbers were so far out of one's favor that if a million cultivators began with that goal in mind right now, there was a high probability that not even one would succeed.
It may seem like there were "a lot" of dao formation experts, but that could be attested to Dyon's bad luck and their long lifespans.
This aside, Dyon ended up giving up on the idea of creating his own cultivation technique because he stumbled upon [Inner World: Sanctuary], a technique his grand teacher swore was the greatest ever created. That said, the knowledge he gained remained.
"I'm sure you're all aware why this Mystical World is so sturdy in comparison to others, right? Why is it that it could face the attacks of a half-step transcendent so confidently? Why is it that it's so powerful that I as a mere essence gatherer can suppress you all?"
Dyon's sly smile made the three family heads grow increasingly uncomfortable. Why was he so confident?
Their demeanor as leaders of the generation was slowly crumbling. Everything this young man did made them feel like he was toying with them.
At that point, they couldn't help remember the kneeling Elder Nova. Suddenly, a thought entered their minds that made them tremble in terror.
Dyon obviously hadn't subdued this man within the Mystical World… They had never seen this Elder Nova before. So, how the hell had he done it? How had he subdued a dao formation expert as an essence gatherer? How?!
